Part I. GENERAL EXPECTATIONSThe Marshall County School District agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:
•Marshall County Schools puts into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Those programs, activities and procedures are planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children. Title I is dedicated to facilitating a learning environment whereby all students can master challenging educational materials and whereby "No Child is Left Behind". In partnership with students' homes and the community, Marshall County Schools promotes high achievement and excellence in learning activities. A network of caring teachers, community members, and parents are involved in the educational process and are included in all aspects of the county's Title I program. The goal is to create positive home-school relationships and to support parents as a child's first teacher. These community-school partnerships encourage all students in the district to succeed in learning.
•Consistent with section 1118, Marshall County Schools works with its schools to ensure that the required school-level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of section 1118(b) of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESEA.
•This district parental involvement policy is incorporated into the LEA plan developed under section 1112 of the ESEA.
•In carrying out Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, Marshall County Schools and its schools will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports required under section 1111 of ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and including alternative formats upon request, and to the extend practicable, in a language the parents can understand.
•If the LEA plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1112 of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school district will submit parent comments with the plan when Marshall County Schools submits the plans to the State Department of Education.
•Marshall County Schools involves the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the one percent goes directly to the schools.
•Marshall County Schools is governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and expects that its Title I schools carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:
Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring—
(A) that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
(B) that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
(C) that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision- making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child;
(D) the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA.
•Marshall County Schools provides school-based Parent Educator Resource Centers to inform, train and support parents and parental organizations. Parents are informed about the State Parental Information and Resource Center, Parent Connections, and a regional representative is available to provide information and support to local Title I representatives.
Part II. DESCRIPTION OF HOW DISTRICT WILL IMPLEMENT REQUIRED DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS
Each Title I School within the district involves parents during the development of the following year's plan during the spring prior to the implementation year. Teachers and administrators meet with parents to determine all aspects of the school's Title I project. The school-based Parent Educator Resource Centers provide materials and educational sessions regarding a variety of areas that parents need information on. Parents are empowered through these sessions to be effective partners with teachers and administrators.
1. Marshall County Schools will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its district wide parental involvement plan under section 1112 of the ESEA:
•Host county wide meetings with parents to develop and review the district wide parental involvement plan prior to the submission of the LEA Title I plan to the state Title I educational agency.
•Incorporate parental suggestions and changes into the development of the LEA plan.
•Provide community informational fairs and expo events with Title I informational materials.
•Provide training to parents and teachers in order to facilitate informed, empowered parental participation and parent/teacher partnerships.
2. Marshall County Schools will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESEA:
•Provide parents with opportunities to participate in the local school improvement council meetings and facilitate active parent participation in the decisions that affect students.
•Provide opportunities for parents to meet with the educational staff, both formally and informally, to discuss school review and improvement suggestions and concerns.
•Survey parents annually about Title I services and school concerns.
3. Marshall County Schools will provide the following necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance.
•Provide school review assessment tools.
•Provide county wide, parental involvement coordination through the Title I Teacher/Parent Coordinator.
•Provide educator and administrators with information, support, and training regarding “Ideas Staff Can Use to Promote Parent Involvement” and National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs.
•Provide Title I brochures regarding school wide services and school-parent compacts.
4. Marshall County Schools will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Part A with parental involvement strategies under the following other programs:
•Head Start: Coordination with Head Start occurs through many Title I activities. Head Start and WV Pre-K operate several 4 year old programs in the Title I Schools. Teacher collaboration and staff development activities are common practice. Parents from these programs are able to participate in all Title I school wide parental involvement programs and activities.
•Parents As Teachers: Parent PAT Educators serve teen parents in the high school. Parental involvement is supported through newsletters and group parent trainings on a monthly.
•West Virginia Pre-K: Title I staff members serve on the WV Pre-K Steering Committee in order to provide support towards quality environments for pre-school children. .
5. Marshall County Schools will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnical minority background). Marshall County Schools will use the finding of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary (with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.
•Parents will join with Title I school staff and evaluate the effectiveness of the Parent Involvement Policy at each individual school.
•Parents and the County Title I Teacher/Parent Coordinator will meet to review the results of the evaluation and to generate suggestions upon completion of the evaluation process.
•Copies of the individual school evaluations and parental suggestions will be sent to school administrative staff and Title I teachers.
6. Marshall County Schools will build the schools’ and parent’s capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, through the following activities specifically described below:
A. The school district will, with the assistance of its Title I, Part A schools, provide assistance to parents of children served by the school district or school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph-
•WV academic content standards
•WV student academic achievement standards
•WV and Marshall County Schools academic assessments, including alternative assessments
•The requirements of Part A
•How to monitor their child’s progress
•How to work with educatorsParents will be directed to the WV Department of Education’s website (http://wvde.state.wv.us/csos/) for content standards. Printed versions of the content standards will be given to parents if the parent does not have access to a computer with internet upon request. Student achievement topics and topics regarding Part A will be provided for parental education and as informational handouts.
B. Marshall County Schools will, with the assistance of its schools, provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievement, such as literacy training, and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement, by:
•Lending families books, tapes, and other materials regarding parenting and academic assistance through school-based Parent Educator Resource Centers.
•Providing Title I R.I.S.E. and other take home family literacy program to early elementary grade students and family members.
•Providing Family Workshops in Title I Schools.
C. Marshall County Schools will, with the assistance of its schools and parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals, and other staff, in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, in the value and unity of contributions of parents, and in how toimplement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools, by:
•Providing teachers and administrative staff with materials, videos, and books (resources) regarding what works with parents as partners in education.
•Providing school staff with assistance in becoming a family friendly climate that encourages parent volunteerism…i.e. bulletin boards welcoming parents, family learning events.
•Providing parent-educator partnership trainings and community networking opportunities.
. D. Marshall County Schools coordinates and integrates parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, WV Pre-K, and Marshall County Schools 21st Century Community Centers After School programs by:
•Providing Title I members on the Early Childhood Interagency Community Collaborative and WV Pre-K Steering Committees.
•Participation and coordination with the Baby Safety Shower events and the More You Know Community Awareness events.
•Participation with the county wide developmental screenings and child find efforts.
•Participating in the Back To School Fair for all of Marshall County School students and their family members, including preschoolers.
•Pre-K and Kindergarten registration transition activities.
E. The school district will take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent- programs, meetings, and other activities, is sent to the parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand:
•Translate materials into the native language of the parents.
•Include ESL materials and a parent to parent mentoring situation for non-English speaking families.
•Provide opportunities for non-English parents to participate in parent involvement policy development.
•Provide an interpreter when requested.
•Design Rebus materials, along with print, for low literacy parents if needed.
•Provide sign language interpreters, if requested.
•Provide home visits as needed.Part III. Discretionary District Wide Parental Involvement Policy Components
Each individual Title I school will develop discretionary activities, in consultation with its parents and Title I staff members in order to build parents’ capacity for involvement in the school and school system and to support their children’s academic achievement, such as the following discretionary activities listed under section 1118(e) of the ESEA:
•Involving parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training;
•Providing necessary assistance in locating literacy training for parents from Title I, Part A funds, if the school district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for that training;
•Paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including assistance in securing transportation and child care, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;
•Training parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
•In order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children’s education, arranging school meetings at a variety of times, or conducting in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with parents who are unable to attend those conferences at school;
•Adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement;
•Establishing a district wide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs;
•Developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations, in parental involvement activities; and
•Providing other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under section 1118 as parents may request.
Part IV. Parents RiIght to Review Teacher Qualifications
NOTICE TO PARENTS:
Right to Review Teacher Qualifications
To: ALL PARENTS
From: Marshall County Schools
Date: August 16, 2010As a parent of a student in Marshall County Schools, you have the right to know the professional qualifications of the classroom teachers who instruct your child. Federal law allows you to ask for certain information about your child’s classroom teachers and requires us to give you this information in a timely manner if you ask for it. Specifically, you have the right to ask for the following information about each of your child’s classroom teachers:
• Whether the West Virginia Department of Education has licensed or qualified the teacher for the grades and subjects he or she teaches.
• Whether the West Virginia Department of Education has decided that the teacher can teach in a classroom without being licensed or qualified under state regulations because of special circumstances.
• The teacher’s college major; whether the teacher has any advanced degrees and, if so, the subject of the degrees.
• Whether any teachers’ aides or similar paraprofessionals provide services to your child and, if they do, their qualifications.
If you would like to receive any of this information, please call Susan E. Jones, Title I Director at 304-843-4400 ext.316.
V. ADOPTION
Marshall County School Districtwide Parental Involvement Policy has been developed jointly with, and agreed upon with, parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs, as evidenced by: The agenda, sign-in sheet, and minutes of the Parental Involvement Policy Parent Meeting held at the Marshall County Schools Administrative Offices on Friday, May 28, 2010.
This policy was adopted by the Marshall County School District on June 29, 2009 and will be in effect for the school year period of 2010-11. The school district will distribute this policy to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children on or before October 31, 2010.
Signed by:
Roger Lewicki, Board President
Marshall County Schools
Board of Education RepresentativeJune 29, 2009
The signed original is on file at the Administrative Offices of Marshall County Schools.
This policy was reviewed by Marshall County Tile I Parent Involvement Policy Advisory Committee on May 28, 2010.